Access Keys - Striving for Universal Access

Access Keys checks websites and offers awards based on how accessible and easy to use they are. We have studied current standards and real world problems and used our findings to design six different awards. Each award means a web site is suitable for one set of needs. Web sites get awards based on which needs they meet. With Access Keys it is simple to find web sites that meet your needs. Read more about Access Keys awards.

We use a computer program to check websites to find out how well they meet accessibility standards. Web site owners can also ask for a more complete accessibility check which is done manually. Checking a site by hand allows us to perform certain tests that cannot be done by computer. This means a site which has passed tests done by a human will get a higher award than sites passed by our program.
Read more about Access Keys accessibility testing and what we look for.

The Awards

Access Keys tests for accessibility in six categories. One category is checked by our automated program. The other five categories are checked by hand. Sites which pass human testing by a web accessibility consultant in all five categories receive a special Access Key for Universal Access.

Accessibility Awareness

Sites with an Accessibility Awareness Key have passed automated testing. They meet a basic level of accessibility for people who do not need assistive technologies to access the internet.
Read more about the Accessibility Awareness Access Key.

Easy Read

Sites with an Easy Read Access Key have used the clearest and simplest language possible for their content.
Read more about the Easy Read Access Key.

Easy View

Sites with an Easy View Access Key let users make their own settings for text sizes, colours and style sheets through their browser.
Read more about the Easy View Access Key.

Keyboard

Sites with a Keyboard Access Key are good for users who surf the internet without a mouse or who use special tools such as a switch, a pointer or any type of one-button activation.
Read more about the Keyboard Access Key.

Magnifiable

Sites with a Magnifiable Access Key are good for users who like to make the text of a webpage larger or smaller or who use special software to make objects on their screen bigger.
Read more about the Magnifiable Access Key.

Text-to-Speech

Sites with a Text-to-Speech Access Key are good for users who surf the web with a Screen Reader.
Read more about the Text-to-Speech Access Key.

Universal

Sites with a Universal Access Key have achieved the highest level of accessibility for as many users as possible. They hold all of the Access Keys awards and should be praised for their success.